Thrifty Gifty - Organised for Christmas and all ocassions 2009- Santas Challenges

sammy_kaye18

Hi All

Well I had a nice shift back in work - since I swapped shifts I've been going in at 5pm and found out I was on old hours so I should be going in at 6! Not amused and will not be doing that again any time soon!

Although I did have a random act of human kindness yesterday - our cash machine was broken so a man came in and asked if we did cash back - I said yes my love but you need to buy something small - ie packet of chewing gum - to get it.

Well he went and got a bottle of wine and then I served him, and as I handed him his cash back he said 'I actually didn't even want a bottle of wine, here you have it'. and he left me a £6 bottle of wine! I called after him and went after him out fo the shop but he'd already gone - asked my supervisor what I should do adn she said 'take it home, he obviously wanted you to have it'. :o:o:o:o:o everyoen else was narked then becasue tehy hadnt hada nice customer - the man behind him wouldnt let me have his minstrels though :rolleyes: but I thought that was really sweet and wanted to share it. I did pay it forward later that night though with a little old lady who came in and who didn't quite have enough to cover her shopping - she had basics like bread, butter, milk etc and was 50p short so i said id let her off - then put it in the till myself at end of shift. So had a nice night. Felt good to do a proper shift of work as well as I've been wrapped in cotton wool this last 2 weeks

Although only problem being that I don't drink so might put it into a hamper - because my sister and sister in law both drink Rose and i was given one a few months back for helping out when head bosses came to the shop so I now have 2 bottles on top of the cupboard not doing anything.

No idea what I'll manage to get done today - got both boys here so might get 5 to do some cross stitch but I've no idea.

Currently waiting to see how much boyfriend is being paid tomorrow - he is £300 overdrawn! and his wages because he's been ill are only about £500! so this month may be very tight! Keep telling him as long as I can get the rent paid then we should be ok. Fingers crossed though we will manage. I'm paid on the 1st/2nd September I think so we can manage to then but might be behind with a few payments but hoping we'll manage - plenty of bread flour etc so looks like ill be hand baking a fair bit! Really must get back on the OS wagon I think.

rufusdog52

Jammy - thanks for doing the link for me. Thought I had nearly finished my presents, well all the knitted ones but after seeing OH's 2 god sons last weekend think I might have done the jumpers a bit small for them even though they are the next size up to what their ages are. They are both lovely boys and very big for their ages. Going to get OH to text his cousin and get him to measure them properly then I can see if they might fit or if I will have to make a bigger size.

At least I have time to do them again and think it will only be one I have to do.

Mrsdrb - well done on your list, I love having a list on here of what I have done and need to do, its so much easier to keep check of things and its nice to cross things off and see the list get smaller.

Sammykay - well done on your good deeds for the day. You are a very caring person and deserved the bottle of wine. Will be a bit less to by for your hampers now xx

rufusdog52

Off to the boot fair in a bit to see if I can find some bits of fabric for my quilt

irishgirl62

i still need help with ideas for my son (12) chocolate hamper so far i have the chocolate fountain chocolate calculator

SugarSpun

mrsdrb wrote: »

4. my parents - are planning to go to new york next spring so will give them dollars (approx £100). need to get small gift for each from my dd's as they look after them 1 day a week ... mum likes books, dad likes gardening and art/painting - budget for each £10. I do spend a lot more on my mum dad - they live close and look after us well (mum sends us home with dinner the day they have the kids etc)

Why not a New York guide book for your mum and a restaurant.com certificate for your dad? (those are two separate links there for $300 and $100, although the $300 one's only $27 and the other $9) You'd need to check out restaurant.com to see how it works, but it's pretty cool. I gave a friend of mine these for her wedding gift and she loved it.

6. 1 bro who is single, loves liverpool fc, milan, running - budget £20

halfcost.co.uk have Liverpool FC hipflasks for £3, so one of those and a bottle of something? Code ff15 gets you 10% off.

9. niece aged 9 - loves horses, no sure what to buy - budget £10 max, she will be 10 in early january so also need to budget/buy for that

Combine it with her birthday present and sponsor a horse?

11. my best mate - budget usually £40, bought fab vase in tk max reduced to £5, will get other stuff but not sure what yet...

Fill it with seasonal flowers and you're done! Just because you budgeted £40 doesn't mean you need to spend it

mary-op

sammy - just goes to show how nice people can be..........and good for you helping the old lady out.......I'm a great believer in 'what goes around comes around'.

Been to boot fair this morning...........got some floral vellum paper, box of felt flowers (pink and purple), some little 'sayings' to stick on cards and some brown flowers. Then I bought a couple of shopping bags -big enough to put my friends birthday presents in and she gets to keep the bag...............the other one I think I might keep for myself -was only 50p.
Got home and sat making little gift bags out of the vellum just to make a bit of 'cheapy nonsense' look a bit more interesting than it is...................lol
Oh and got some post it notes but they're only small packs.............-might make it easier to make post it holders (I hope):rotfl:
Had good poke about in spare room and looks like I still need a few bits and pieces.............looking at the room it's full to bursting but when I actually sort bits out I seem to have loads for some people and not much for others bad planning on my part...............ho hum........it'll all come good

xmascheer

I,m doing a bath themed hamper for my nephew for christmas eve--i,ve got him bubble baths(action man etc)--crazy spray bubble foam etc--but was wondering if i could put it in something other than a hamper??? last year i put it in one of the boxes with a blackboard on the side--and he uses that for his toys now,

I,ve been trying to think of something but so far came up with nothing!!!! also any help about what else i could put in the hamper would be a help,

Thanks in advance:beer:

JordanShannon

xmascheer wrote: »

I,m doing a bath themed hamper for my nephew for christmas eve--i,ve got him bubble baths(action man etc)--crazy spray bubble foam etc--but was wondering if i could put it in something other than a hamper??? last year i put it in one of the boxes with a blackboard on the side--and he uses that for his toys now,

I,ve been trying to think of something but so far came up with nothing!!!! also any help about what else i could put in the hamper would be a help,

Thanks in advance:beer:

I've seen a cars soft storage box that might be good, on amazon for about £3 ish. Funky rubber ducks (multi coloured, i've even seen an army one on ebay), Or some led bath lights, a personalised towel, themed swim bag. There's some good bits on studio or amazon, but have a shop around:D
HTH
JS
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sarahf191979

xmascheer wrote: »

I,m doing a bath themed hamper for my nephew for christmas eve--i,ve got him bubble baths(action man etc)--crazy spray bubble foam etc--but was wondering if i could put it in something other than a hamper??? last year i put it in one of the boxes with a blackboard on the side--and he uses that for his toys now,

I,ve been trying to think of something but so far came up with nothing!!!! also any help about what else i could put in the hamper would be a help,

Thanks in advance:beer:

What about a plastic bathroom store box, I got some last year from tescos think they were 70p or so, you could probably get them in the £1 shop too then he could keep all his bits in it. Also noticed Poundworld had Ben 10 sponges (they were the different Aliens) if they would be any good.

sarahf191979

Hope your all having a nice weekend, sorry I've not been around much, but I have been missing you all. Need to get stuck in this week, before the kids go back to school, got to take DS1 to pick his new glasses and need to get him a bag, might use some of my amazon voucher stash and order him a dr who one.

Not had any bargins lately.

Well catch you all later

Sarah
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